Numerous human and animal diseases are caused by the bite of or infestation by arthropods. Arthropods include insects such as lice and arachnids such as mites and ticks. Because of the small size of these creatures and their larvae, it is often difficult to detect their presence on people or their pets.
Human pediculosis, or lice, is caused by infestation of the head, body, or pubic area by the arthropods Pediculus capitus, Pediculus humanus, Pediculus corporis or Phithirus pubis, respectively. Head lice lay eggs, called nits or louse eggs, on the hair of the head, and the nits eventually hatch into mature forms. Body lice lay their eggs in warm moist skin crease areas. Treatment is with shampoos, creams and lotions containing various insecticides such as lindane, Malathion, or permethrin. Following treatment, the residual nits must be removed by careful examination of the affected hair or clothing and mechanical removal. The shampoo treatment does not remove nits which tenaciously adhere to hair.
Most pre-schools and elementary schools in the U.S. have periodic checks of their students for lice to limit infections. The child's head is checked for the presence of either nits or lice, and if found, the child is sent home for treatment. After treatment, the child is rechecked in school. Often, however, a successfully treated child will have residual nits that were missed and not removed. This usually results from an inability to see the small (0.8 mm×0.3 mm) eggs that blend in well with hair, especially light hair. For the untrained observer, it is often difficult to differentiate nits from exfoliated scalp skin (dandruff). This may lead to further embarrassment of a child who might have been treated but is sent home again after finding residual nits.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,790, issued Apr. 19, 1993 to Saferstein, A. for “Multi-Function Light Device” describes a source of blacklight blue light for the detection of nits and adult lice. Since autofluorescence of nits and adult lice is minimal, however, it is still extremely difficult to detect nits and adult lice in hair and clothing.
Lyme disease or erythema chronicum migrans is a multi system disease affecting the skin joints and central nervous system caused by the organism Borrelia burgdorefi. The disease is contracted by the bite of the deer tick Ixodes scapularis which secretes the Borrelia organism in its saliva when it feeds off the human host. Other tick vectors found to be associated with the Borrelia organism are Ixodes pacificus, found in the west, I. ricinus, found in Europe, and I. persulcatus, found in Asia. Rocky Mountain spotted fever is an acute rickettsial disease that is transmitted by the bite of a wood tick, Dermacentor andersoni. Rapid removal of the deer and wood ticks after attachment could prevent the transmission of the Borrelia and Dermacentor organisms and thus prevent Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever, but is often difficult since the attachment and bite of the tick are most often not seen or felt by the host.
Other organisms that are small in size and thus difficult to detect are mites, such as chiggers. These organisms also cause human disease. Accordingly, a need remains for an effective and expedient method of detecting small organisms, such as lice, nits, mites, ticks, and fungi.